Employee Savings Plan

EMC's plan to reduce company costs included a call to arms that attracted some interesting — and effective — employee recommendations.

By
Jennifer Esty

Not sure where all your money is going? Try asking the people who spend it. In late 2001, faced with rapidly shrinking revenue, computer storage giant EMC turned to employees to help reduce costs. CFO Bill Teuber created the Office for Cost Efficiency, a cross-functional team led by his finance department. And in a companywide memo, he asked everyone for ideas. Since then, 2,000 suggestions have poured in—and 100 have actually been put into action, yielding total savings of more than $17 million. Here are a few.

in a warehouse. Inside: hundreds of company-logo clock-calculators. At the next event, Marketing didn't have to spring for new tchotchkes. Savings: $25,000

Repurpose that pencil: During one office relocation, an employee noticed unwanted office supplies being thrown away. EMC launched an effort to recycle supplies within the company, with excess donated to local schools. Savings: $100,000 a year

A version of this article appeared in the June 2004 issue of Fast Company magazine.